Boston reporter Juliana Mazza proved that we can all be everyday heroes—all it takes is our wits and a little bit of luck. She and the rest of her local 7NEWS crew became involved in the dognapping story they were covering after Juliana noticed a man walking what appeared to look exactly like Titus, the dog who was stolen from a parked car in Cambridge last Friday.
Going live, Juliana used the opportunity to say hello to the dog and check his collar. She then confronted the dognapper and—with a few razor-sharp questions—backed him up into a corner, called 911, and solved the entire mystery.
The story had a very happy ending. Titus, the 13-month-old German shorthaired pointer, was reunited with his owner, Greg Siesczkiewicz, who was incredibly emotional to get his best buddy back.
Check out the full video of how things went down between the 7NEWS crew and puppy thief below, dear Pandas
Titus the dog was stolen last Friday by the man shown in this surveillance capture photo
Juliana spotted a dog just like Titus while reporting on the dognapping
After confronting the perpetrator with a series of questions, she then called the police
Titus, an incredibly good and handsome boy, was later reunited with his owner who was understandably very emotional
The dognapper’s excuses all fell flat under scrutiny. The perpetrator insisted that it was just a dog walking misunderstanding: that he supposedly mixed Titus up with another dog that he was supposed to be walking when he saw him barking in a car.
However, Juliana poked holes in his story, like why he didn’t bother calling the number on Titus’ collar over the span of an entire day. The dognapper was later identified as the suspect in surveillance photos showing him stealing Titus.
What’s more, the perp’s story kept changing. For instance, on Saturday, he said that his phone was broken while on Monday his phone was now lost. Go figure. He later apologized for his ‘mistake’ and insisted it’s all been a huge misunderstanding. He’s facing charges for larceny of over 1.2k dollars, as well as breaking and entering into a vehicle to commit a felony.
Meanwhile, Titus’ owner Greg thanked the news crew for finding and saving his puppy. “I'm just glad that the person came back and I'm just glad that you guys were there. If anyone ever sees this who question the value of media, social media, broadcast media, this proves it,” he told 7NEWS.
As reporters, we’re very proud of Juliana and think that she’s setting the bar pretty high for the rest of us. We’re more than happy to take her up on that challenge.
Here's how some people on the internet reacted to the reporter being an everyday superhero
Image credits: beachpoppy
